This invention relates to a rotor for an agricultural feed bagger and more particularly to an improved rotor for an agricultural feed bagger.
Horizontally expansive silage storage bags have become known and used as alternatives to permanent storage structures, such as barns or silos. Such storage bags are desirable from an economic standpoint and are advantageous in that they are easily loaded and the stored material is readily accessible. An early type of apparatus for bagging is disclosed in Eggenmuller et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,061.
A currently existing apparatus for loading such receptacles is disclosed in Eggenmuller et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,068 wherein an apparatus for bagging silage is shown. A loading channel supports an unfilled bag and guides the silage from a press roll having spirally located teeth about the outer periphery of the roll. Feed stock is fed into a hopper where it is forced by a reciprocating member into the press roll whose teeth force the feed stock into the storage bag. A gate is held against the closed end of the storage bag with cables connected therefrom to a drum on the apparatus, which drum has a brake arrangement applying tension to the cables so that as the storage bag is filled, the brake will release the cable and the apparatus will move away from the gate.
A modification of the Eggenmuller et al '068 patent is disclosed in Johnson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,805 wherein substantially the same apparatus is provided except that the press roll or rotor has randomly located groups of teeth, each group having four teeth, about the periphery thereof for forcing the feed stock into a truncated triangular tunnel (as sectioned transverse to the direction of movement of the feed stock) and then into the storage bag. A feeder roll is rotated in the bottom of a feed hopper to advance the feed stock into the press roll. A disc brake arrangement is used to add the resistance to the cable on the drum so as to pay out the cable as the storage bag is filled. A sprocket drive arrangement is employed to drive both the feeder roll and the press roll.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,068, the press roll or rotor is provided with a plurality of teeth arranged spirally on a shaft or drum in two sets or groups which oppose one another. Although the opposing sets of helical arranged teeth do perform generally satisfactorily, it has been found that there are large voids thereon wherein teeth are not present. The absence of teeth on certain portions of the rotor results in an uneven stuffing or feeding of the feed stock into the bag especially when the feed being conveyed to the rotor is dumped onto the rotor at the middle thereof.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved rotor for an agricultural bagging machine.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved rotor or press roll for an agricultural bagging machine comprising a pair of opposing sets of helically arranged teeth with a pair of supplemental sets of teeth being provided adjacent the middle portion of the rotor to ensure an efficient and even packing or stuffing of the feed material into the bag.